4 Ways to Blast 100 Calories From Meals and Snacks

Chilled Cucumber Avocado Shooter

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

1 hothouse cucumber, peeled and chopped

1/2 avocado

Juice and zest of 1 lime

1/2 fennel bulb, chopped

Handful basil leaves

1/2 cup green grapes

Directions

Place all ingredients in a blender and combine until very smooth. Taste and add a pinch of salt if necessary. 

Add 1/4-1/2 cup water to thin to desired consistency.

Nutrition Information Per Serving

119 calories, 6g fat, 36mg sodium, 18g carbs, 5g fiber, 8g sugar, 2g protein

Dinner: Set a Smarter Table

Your table is another place that’s teeming with choices that can tip your eating in favor of weight gain or weight loss. Research from Cornell University has discovered some surprisingly easy ways you can shave up to 30% of the calories from your meal without even noticing it. I like to think of this as the “low-hanging fruit” of calorie-skimming, as it’s a powerful way to blast calories simply by setting a smarter table. These secrets include: 

• Serve your dinner on a plate that contrasts in color. For example, use a red plate for grilled chicken and corn on the cob, rather than a white one, and you’ll naturally put up to 20% less on your plate.
• Eat off of a blue plate. The color blue is most linked to eating less – up to 30% less – perhaps because that color rarely exists in food from nature, or because it signals relaxation.
• Serve the main course in the kitchen, but your salad and veggies family-style. When you put serving bowls on the dinner table so family members can “help themselves,” they usually do. In contrast, if you have to get up and walk back into the kitchen for seconds, that effort can be enough to thwart that second plate. The best strategy is to go –family-style only with the foods you want to be eating more of for a healthy weight, such as sides of veggies or salad – and leave the higher calorie main course and starchy sides in the kitchen.